Mese-en-scene - French for “Everything in the frame”
"Seven," a dark, grisly, horrifying and intelligent thriller, may be too disturbing for many people, I imagine, although if you can bear to watch, it you will see filmmaking of a high order. It tells the story of two detectives - one ready to retire, the other at the start of his career - and their attempts to capture a perverted serial killer who is using the Seven Deadly Sins as his scenario. "
Today we watched the opening sequence for a 1995 American crime film “Se7en” directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, oh yes I did my research! As the film starts Morgan Freeman, who plays a retiring Detective William Summerset, standing in his kitchen cleaning up after he made a coffee and straightening his cuffs. The camera then moves on to show Summerset carefully doing up his tie in front of his mirror, then picking up, in order, his belonging which are neatly laid out on the table in front of him, first his keys, then his detective badge, an old school pen knife and lastly a ball point pen, placing the knife and the pen in his shirt pocket. We next see Summerset in his bedroom with his suit jacket carefully laid out on the bed; Summerset checks the jacket for fluff, carefully picks up his jacket to put it on, then turning off his bedside lamp.
The lighting and the coloring of Summerset flat are both very dull; the darkness of the flat suggests it could either be early morning or early evening, whilst setting an eerie atmosphere. The color scheme throughout the flat is a series of creams, beige, browns and greys, this shows us that everything is just used for its function, the kitchen is just a kitchen, no socializing would be done in there, and it is simply used for breakfast, lunch and dinner – just serving its purpose.The next scene shows a dead body laying on the floor in a pool of blood, in a badly lit gloomy house, keeping the dull and eerie atmosphere running throughout the title sequence, the camera moves along the body and then straight to Summerset who is walking through the house, each pace the same, with his hands in his pockets, looking into each room, you can also see a dimly lit light hanging from the ceiling behind him. Summerset then walks into the kitchen and see’s children’s drawings on the fridge and asks another detective the other end of the hall to him, asking if the child saw anything, the reaction from this man, whom I will name the Sloppy Cop, replies to him “what kind of a question is that!?” We’ll be glad when we’ve got rid of you Summerset” this shows us that the cop only really cares about the result, finding out who did it so that he gets paid, nothing else, but on the other hand, Summerset does a good job, he reads between the lines and is almost worried about the child, he wants every piece of information there is to do the job properly – old school almost. Showing us that Summerset has everything he does, is done with efficiency, this is from the way he decorates his home, to the how he dresses to how he does his job. Behind the cop who is speaking to Summerset we can see, no in plain view but behind, as if it is just an everyday thing, a blood splattered blind which is most likely from a gunshot to the head, this makes the viewer also worry about the child, would he/she have had to go through such a terrible ordeal?
Next Bradd Pitt who plays the rookie detective David Mills comes rushing up the stairs, late to work, chewing gum, unshaven and not as smartly dresses as Summerset, “Detective Summerset? I’m Detective Mills” This is not how someone should address someone formally, Mills says this in a very cocky way, he also cocks his head to one side almost as if he knows everything, already fighting to be above Dective Mills. Next we see the body being taken out of the house, covered up and being taken to have a post mortem done on him. The rain is created outside for the impending doom of the underbelly of New York, still carrying on the gloom and despair of what is the down town part New York and you can also hear sirens in the back ground and the flash of the paparazzo camera’s, the public who walk past Mills and Summerset as they walk down the street talking are all dressed in black, again showing the dullness which surrounds them all. As Summerset and Mills walk down the street talking Summerset keeps his same pace, walking with his hands in his pockets, just letting the world almost past him by, he also talks in the same tone, everything about this man is officiate, everything is done with the same amount of purpose, where as Mills walks at a different pace, having to slow down and turning to face Summerset as they talk.
It is clear that they are two completely different people, and that it is like Mills is constantly fighting to have the same status as Summerset. As well as this, when Mills is talking to Summerset he cannot completely face him, and never keeps his eye contact, almost as if he has something to hide, he is not sure of Summerset or that he is just being wary of him. Near the end of the conversation, Summerset turns to face mills, face to face, and Mills then crosses his arms, showing annoyance, impatience and contempt to what Summerset is saying to him.
Summerset then walks off leaving Mills standing with his arms crossed, showing his true annoyance. Next we see Summerset, laying in bed, in a badly lit dull room, used simply for its purpose, sleeping in and for getting dressed – nothing else. Summerset sets a metronome, an old school timing device which is used normally by pianists to keep them in time, in the background we can hear everything that Summerset can hear, both outside his home, and in his head, there are; police sirens, dogs barking, the hussle and bussle of the city outside, shouting, the loud sound of the metronome and then a loud burst of thunder which leads into the titles. It could be that Summerset sets the metronome so that he can try and forget everything that he has seen and heard during his life, these may have something to do with noises outside his home which he can hear, he also goes to sleep with two bedside lamps on, this shows his paranoia of the dark, being alone and the bad things that happen in the underbelly of New York.
The titles sequence shows us what could be the serial killer in this film, everything is shot in black white, this represents the way in which the serial killer thinks, there are no shades of gray, everything is either black or white, your are either a sinner or a saint. This also relates to Summerset, although his home and his clothes are dull colors, he does have grey, browns and beiges, which shows us that to him there are shades of grey, that you have to read between the lines, no everything is as it is on the first look. Also we only see this man’s hands, no face, and no torso. The music that is played during this titles sequence has the sounds of chains and zips, high pitches screams but this is almost as if it is all on a cerset-tape which is being rewound, creating a since of confusion and fright, as if you would come out in cold sweats listening to it.
Throughout the titles we can see the serial killer clearly and precisely lining out words in books and newspaper clipping in a black marker, he also lines out a young boys face and nearly and carefully writes out codes on lots of pieces of paper which he bines himself into a book using an old needle and string. The serial killer is also seen looking at old brain surgery pictures, pictures of dead people and murders, he cuts this pictures out and keeps this is a note book, we also see him carefully cut out the word “God” out of a dollar bill with a scalpel and tweezers, this suggests to us that the murders he commits are religious based.
The New York Times Magazine called the title sequence Kyle Cooper created for Se7en one of the most important design innovations of the 1990s.
